GRADUATE SCHOOL

Political Science and International Relations (Without thesis)

PSIR 556 | Course Introduction and Application Information

Course Name
Contemporary Issues in International Relations
Code
Semester
Theory
(hour/week)
Application/Lab
(hour/week)
Local Credits
ECTS
PSIR 556
Fall/Spring
3
0
3
7.5

Prerequisites
None
Course Language
English
Course Type
Elective
Course Level
Second Cycle
Mode of Delivery -
Teaching Methods and Techniques of the Course -
Course Coordinator -
Course Lecturer(s)
Assistant(s)
Course Objectives This course aims at providing graduate students with new perspectives on current issues and debates in the study of International Relations, and it also targets at enabling the students to analyze those issues using critical lenses.
Learning Outcomes The students who succeeded in this course;
  • Identify the principal current issues and debates in international relations,
  • Analyze those issues using objective and critical lenses;
  • Develop their own opinions, interpretations, perspectives regarding those issues,
  • Compare/contrast the perspectives, positions and policies of leading international actors with respect to those issues,
  • Make projections on future trends and challenges likely to be faced by international community in coming years.
Course Description The focus of the course would be some of the current issues and debates of international relations. The methodology of the course will be lecturer’s explanations intermingled with class discussions.

 



Course Category

Core Courses
Major Area Courses
X
Supportive Courses
Media and Management Skills Courses
Transferable Skill Courses

 

WEEKLY SUBJECTS AND RELATED PREPARATION STUDIES

Week Subjects Related Preparation
1 Course Introduction: course objectives, content, methodology, conditions Brief overview: IR paradigms
2 Global Leadership Stephen Kotkin, “Realist World,” Foreign Affairs, June 14, 2018; Stephen M. Walt, “What Sort of World Are We Headed for?” Foreign Policy, October 2, 2018; Richard Haas, “How a World Order Ends,” Foreign Affairs, December 11, 2018; John. J. Mearsheimer, “The Inevitable Rivalry,” Foreign Affairs, November/December 2021; Elizabeth Economy, “ Xi Jinping’s New World Order,” Foreign Affairs, January/February 2022; Liana Fix and Michael Kimmage, “What If Russia Loses?” Foreign Affairs, March 4, 2022; Michael Scumann, “The World Is Splitting in Two,” The Atlantic, March 28, 2022; Mark Leonard, “The Real End of Pax Americana,” Foreign Affairs, June 13, 2022; Hal Brands, “Why Superpower Crises Are a Good Thjng,” Foreign Policy, August 5, 2022.
3 Populism, post-truth, personalistic rules: end of democracy and liberalism? Pankaj Mishra, “The Globalization of Rage”, Foreign Affairs, 17 October 2016; Tom Nichols, “How America Lost Faith in Expertise”, Foreign Affairs, 13 February 2017; Yasicha Mounk and Roberto Stefan Foa, “The End of The Democracy Culture,” Foreign Affairs, April 16, 2018; Robert Kagan, “The strongmen strike back,” Foreign Policy, March 14, 2019; Rick Shenkman, “The Shocking Paper Predicting the End of Democracy,” Politico, September 8, 2019; Pippa Norris, “Voters Against Democracy,” Foreign Affairs, May/June 2021; Moisés Naim, “The Dictators’ New Playbook,” Foreign Affairs, March/April 2022; Scott D. Sagan, “The World’s Most Dangerous Man,” Foreign Affairs, March 16, 2022.
4 Environmental Issues in international relations Joshua Busby, “Warming World”, Foreign Affairs, 14 June 2018; Amitav Ghosh, “The Coming Climate Crisis”, Foreign Policy, Winter 2019; Michael Byers and Kent A. Peacock, “Did climate change destroy the aliens?” The Bulletin, June 27, 2019; Stephen M. Walt, “Who Will Save the Amazon (and How)?” Foreign Policy, August 5, 2019; Mohamed Adow, “The Cimate Debt,” Foreign Affairs, May/June 2020; Micheal Oppenheimer, “As the World Burns,” Foreign Affairs, November/December 2020; Stewart M. Patrick, “”The International Order Isn’t Ready for the Climate Crisis,” Foreign Affairs, November/December 2021; Robert Muggah, “Climate Threats Are Multiplying in the Horn of Africa,” Foreign Policy, December 5, 2021; Christina Lu and Anusha Rathi, “The Mediterranean as WE Know It Is Vanishing,” Foreign Policy, August 1, 2022. Recommended movie: Before the Flood (2016) – available on youtube.
5 Research assignment outline presentations 1
6 Research assignment outline presentations 2
7 Research assignment outline presentations 3
8 Migration Ryan Gingeras, “Can Turkey Assimilate Its Refugees*” Foreign Affairs, May 24, 2016; Loren B. Landau et.al. “Europe Is Making Its Migration Problem Worse,” Foreign Affairs, September 5, 2018; Nanjala Nyabola, “The End of Asylum,” Foreign Affairs, Oct 10, 2019; Bryan Caplan, “Open Borders Are a Trillion-Dollar Idea,” Foreign Policy, Nov 1, 2019; Lant Pritchett, “Only Migration Can Save the Welfare State,” Foreign Affairs, February 24, 2020; Sonia Shah, “Climate Change Will Drive People Across Borders,” Foreign Affairs, July 29, 2020; Kelsey P. Norman, “Rich Countries Cannot Outsource Their Migration Dilemmas,” Foreign Affairs, January 5th, 2022; Alexander Betts, “The Ukrainian Exodus,” Foreign Affairs, March 28, 2022; Gordon H. Hanson and Metthew J. Slaughter, “Amercia Needs More Immigration to Defeat Inflation,” Foreign Affairs, December 19th, 2022. Recommended movie: Adu (2020) -available on Netflix.
9 Terrorism Raphael Minder, “Crackdowns on Free Speech Rise Across a Europe Warry of Terror,” The New York Times, February 24, 2016; Mark Mazzetti and Eric Schmitt, “In the Age of ISIS, Who’s a Terrorist, and Who’s Simply Deranged?” The New York Times, July 17, 2016; Barbara F. Walter, “The Jihadist Threat Won’t End With ISIS’ Defeat,” Foreign Affairs, December 22, 2017; Robert Malley and Jon Finer, “Long Shadow of 9/11,” Foreign Affairs, June 14, 2018; Thomas Hegghammer, “Resistance Is Futile,” Foreign Affairs, September/October 2021; Nelly Lahoud, “Bin Laden’s Catastrophic Success,” Foreign Affairs, September/October 2021; Cynthia Miller-Idriss, “From 9/11 to 1/6,” Foreign Affairs, September/October 2021.
10 Corruption & injustice of wealth Christopher Sabatini, “Corruption in the BRICS,” Foreign Affairs, July 18, 2016; Bill Browder, “Abandonment has consequences,” Foreign Policy, December 22, 2016; Will Doig, “The Belt and Road Initiative Is a Corruption Bonanza,” Foreign Policy, January 15, 2019; Oliver Bullough, “Dirty Money: How Corruption Changes the World,” Foreign Affairs, January/February 2020; Philip Zelikov, et.al. “The Rise of Strategic Corruption: How States Weaponize Graft,“ Foreign Affairs, July/August 2020; “The war against money-laundering is being lost,” The Economist, April 12, 2021; Ricardo Soares de Oliveira and Olivier Vallée, “The Republic of Congo Is Dark Debt Pioneer,” Foreign Policy, May 21, 2021; Josh Rudolph, “The Fight Against Corruption Needs Economists,” The Foreign Affairs, May 17, 2021; Daron Acemoglu, “Closing Tax Havens Is the True Test of the West’s Resolve,” Project Syndicate, March 8, 2022;. Recommended movie: The Laundromat (2019) – available on Netflix.
11 Outer Space Stewart Patrick and Kyle L. Evanoff, “The Right Way to Achieve Security I Space,” Foreign Affairs, September 17th, 2018; “Lift-off for China-US rivalry over space’s new frontiers,” South China Morning Post, January 6th, 2019; “Russian satellite weapon shows the danger of hazy rules in space,” The Economist, August 9th, 2020; “In 2022 a Moonrush will begin in earnest,” The Economist, January 1st, 2022.
12 Research assignment content presentations - 1
13 Research assignment content presentations -2
14 Research assignment content presentations -3
15 Review of the semester
16 Final Exam

 

Course Notes/Textbooks

This course does not have a specific coursebook. Instead, all assigned readings would be available on the course’s Blackboard page for students to download before attending lectures.

All course readings are available at the University Library and as open sources.

Suggested Readings/Materials

 

EVALUATION SYSTEM

Semester Activities Number Weigthing
Participation
1
20
Laboratory / Application
Field Work
Quizzes / Studio Critiques
Portfolio
Homework / Assignments
1
15
Presentation / Jury
2
25
Project
Seminar / Workshop
Oral Exams
Midterm
Final Exam
1
40
Total

Weighting of Semester Activities on the Final Grade
4
60
Weighting of End-of-Semester Activities on the Final Grade
1
40
Total

ECTS / WORKLOAD TABLE

Semester Activities Number Duration (Hours) Workload
Theoretical Course Hours
(Including exam week: 16 x total hours)
16
3
48
Laboratory / Application Hours
(Including exam week: '.16.' x total hours)
16
0
Study Hours Out of Class
16
5
80
Field Work
0
Quizzes / Studio Critiques
0
Portfolio
0
Homework / Assignments
1
38
38
Presentation / Jury
2
19
38
Project
0
Seminar / Workshop
0
Oral Exam
0
Midterms
0
Final Exam
1
12
12
    Total
216

 

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES AND PROGRAM QUALIFICATIONS RELATIONSHIP

#
Program Competencies/Outcomes
* Contribution Level
1
2
3
4
5
1 To improve theoretical and conceptual proficiencies on Political Science and International Relations and to ultimately deepen and develop intellectual interest X
2 To evaluate the relationships between factors in the field of Political Science and International Relations such as structures, actors, institutions and culture in a critical perspective X
3 To provide advanced competences to determine and question the theoretical and emprical gaps in Political Science and International Relations literature X
4 To identify the political and cultual conditions that generate discrimination mechanisms based on race, ethnic groups, gender and religion at national and international levels X
5 To provide competences to develop original arguments in order to fill the gaps in Political Science and International Relations literature X
6 To determine, collect, resolve, and interpret the data that would measure the theories and concepts as variables by using scientific research methods in Political Science and International Relations field X
7 To use confidently the terms and concepts of Political Science and International Relations X
8 To communicate systematically, in written, oral, and visual forms, contemporary developments in Political Science and International Relations to groups inside and outside the said discipline X
9 To take responsibility in an individual capacity and as part of a team in generating solutions to unexpected problems that arise in relation to politics in daily life X
10 To develop projects determining the institutional and political instruments for management of domestic and international conflicts X
11 To prepare an orginal thesis/term project about Political Science and International Relations in accordance with scentific criteria X
12 To design and carry out a scientific research project in the field of Political Science and International Relations X
13 To have ethical, social and scientific values in the stages throughout the processes of collecting, interpreting, disseminating and implementing data relevant to Political Science and International Relations X

*1 Lowest, 2 Low, 3 Average, 4 High, 5 Highest

 


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